Gepubliceerd op: 13 februari 2004

Buitenlandredactie

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"Prodi betrokken bij verboden adopties"

BRUSSEL - Voorzitter Prodi van de Europese Commissie en andere EU-politici hebben zich bemoeid met de adoptie van kinderen uit Roemenië, terwijl in dat land op last van de Unie een tijdelijk verbod geldt op adopties door buitenlandse gezinnen.

Wed Feb 11, 2004 12:23 am

Correspondence from Rome from Claudia Stanila

"La Nazione" deals with the problem of illegal transplants in Italy

Children massacred for organ-trafficking

"Albania and Moldova - gold mines for kidney-trafficking", wrote the
Italian newspaper "La Nazione" yesterday. The elevated prices for
transplants caused explosion of criminal activities. In Italy, the
demand for organs has been very high over the last few years and number
of "donations" have tripled. Although it is well-known that Moldova and
Albania are in the top of organ-trafficking, there is no incriminating
evidence to allow incrimination of the macabre smugglers. Smugglers
recruit their merchandise in the poor East European and African
countries, writes "La Nazione". The prices for a kidney range between
3.000 US dollars in Moldova, 1.000 in Africa and 10.000 in South
America. In Moldova, there were cases when the donators were recompensed
with less than 100 US dollars or just with modest clothing articles. The
intermediaries receive 100 US dollars. Iurie Sobietski, a Moldovan
teenager, declared to the Italian press that he has sold one of his
kidneys ...to buy a mobile phone!

Screen covering the organ-trafficking

The Italian anti-Mafia committees warned some time ago about the
existence, behind illegal immigration, of a flourishing human organ
trafficking. A magistrate in Trieste, Nicola Maria Pace, cites from the
statements of Slovenian illegal immigrants: "They take out the organs of
persons with psychological problems and of the street children". The
East European network includes Romania. According a statistical survey
coordinated by "Organs Watch", an organization of University of
Berkeley, which makes research on the organ market, the demand has
frighteningly increased , proportionately to the offer.

"Not the countries where the transplants take place are to indict but
those which make the transplants possible - says the journalist Giovanni
Moranti. Those countries should build legislative barriers against these
new forms of human slavery. Science doesn't stipulate that we should
save one life by annihilating another".

Organ trafficking has become a global phenomenon. There are currently
agencies which, based on a mere request submitted via the Internet,
manage to send to destination in only a few days the required organ. The
only problem is of economical nature.

Justice keeps silent because of lack of evidence

There are countries where astronomical figures are paid for life and
life is worth nothing, says in July 2000, in Trieste, Italy, a Chinese
criminal organization was discovered, which "imported" Chinese nationals
for the black market of transplants. Each illegal immigrant was required
about 30-40 million Italian pounds to have access to Italy, and those
who couldn't pay cash, were required to donate one or more organs. Until
they were able to pay, they were kept sequestrated. Justice is still
investigating the whole network.

Copyright C 1998-2004 ZIUA

http://www.ziua.net/display.php?id=3484&data=2004-02-11

Despite a moratorium on international adoptions, Bethany Romania moves forward with ministry.

Posted: 10 February, 2004

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Bethany Christian Services
Int'l Adoption Services

Phone: 616-224-7610 begin_of_the_skype_highlighting            616-224-7610     end_of_the_skype_highlighting
Alt. Phone: 800-652-7082 begin_of_the_skype_highlighting            800-652-7082     end_of_the_skype_highlighting
Fax: 616-224-7436
Web site

901 Eastern Avenue NE
Grand Rapids, MI
49501-0294

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Bericht uit Bogota · We hebben onze “auto”

10 minuten leestijd

Sinds 19 december jl. verblijft ons Kamerlid Van der Staaij met zijn gezin in Colombia om de adoptie van hun dochtertje Camila te 'regelen'. Zij houden ons goed op de hoogte van hun belevenissen en via De Banier geven we dat graag aan u door.

23 januari, terug in Bogota

Vandaag zijn we hier weer teruggevlogen en is het precies vijf weken geleden dat wij zijn aangekomen in Colombia. We zijn nu in ons derde hotel aangeland: Casa Nueva, de dependance van het hotel Paris, waar we eerst gezeten hebben. Anders dan in Paris, zitten in Casa Nueva alleen maar Nederlandse adoptie-echtparen.

in English

Government Approves More Curbs On Foreign Adoptions

The European Union is demanding that candidate country Romania provide urgent information on the adoption of many Romanian children abroad despite a 2001 moratorium. The request follows a call from European Parliament's rapporteur on Romania to suspend membership negotiations with Bucharest unless more reforms are implemented, including measures to protect children's rights. The unprecedented call raises the issue of whether the EU integration process for candidate countries is reversible.

Prague, 5 February 2004 (RFE/RL) -- The European Union says it has requested urgent clarification from the Romanian government regarding the continuation of adoptions abroad despite a 2001 moratorium.

Enlargement Commissioner Guenter Verheugen has sent a letter to Prime Minister Adrian Nastase demanding explanations about reports that more than 100 Romanian children have been sent to Italy under unclear circumstances.

The letter follows harsh criticism by the European Parliament's rapporteur for Romania, Emma Nicholson, who accused Romania of violating the moratorium on foreign adoptions. She warned that the European Parliament could recommend admission talks be suspended "unless the country's reform process is put back on track."

European Commission spokesman Diego de Ojeda told RFE/RL that the commission wants the moratorium enforced until the legal framework and administrative apparatus are strong enough to ensure the children's protection. "This is an issue of concern -- the fact that the rights of the children to be adopted should be fully respected," he said. "And, therefore, our position on the matter is that the moratorium that has been in place for some time should remain until satisfactory legislation has been adopted by the Romanian authorities and, as importantly, appropriate administrative capacity is also put in place to ensure the full respect of the rights of these children. In his letter, Mr. Verheugen has been asking for some information and clarification on a number of elements that we expect to receive from the Romanian authorities as a matter of urgency."

"The Daily Telegraph," a British newspaper, reported that Verheugen's letter went as far as to warn about a "recovery of funds" already spent by the EU -- some $75 million -- to help Romania cope with its institutionalized children. Nastase's spokeswoman admitted in a letter to the newspaper today that Verheugen's message does mention "a possible recovery of funds if accusations regarding illegal adoptions prove true."

Romania is expected to join the EU in 2007 at the earliest, and Bucharest expects to wrap up negotiations by the end of this year. But Nicholson said in a statement yesterday that Bucharest has failed to do enough to fight endemic corruption, to reform its judiciary and administration, and to protect the rights of children. Nicholson said that unless Romania does more, there is what she called a "strong likelihood" that the European Parliament will recommend to the commission that membership talks "be put on ice."

Nastase's Social Democrat government, which is up for re-election this year, has admitted that some 857 children have been adopted abroad since the moratorium, including the 105 to Italy. But it argued that all had been "pipeline cases," close to being finalized when the moratorium came into effect. Bucharest also promised to speed up the reform of its corruption-riddled judiciary and reinforce the moratorium on adoptions.

Romania's chief negotiator with the EU, Vasile Puscas, today told RFE/RL: "What we will do now is to implement very strictly the action plan regarding the reform strategy of the judiciary, and, of course, our answer will be the implementation of the acquis [communitaire, the European Union's body of laws], which has already been adopted into our legal system -- the implementation on the ground. Regarding the judiciary, several very important laws are expected. Regarding the situation of abandoned children, we will continue the policy which we began in 2001, to put stress first of all on child care outside the institutionalized system."

The EU itself came under criticism for lacking a common approach regarding the foreign adoptions issue, with countries such as Spain or Italy appearing favorable to a more relaxed policy.

Puscas said the lack of a common policy has posed difficulties for Romania. "There is no acquis in the EU regarding the [adoption] theme," he said. "We base our work mainly on the UN documents and the human rights chart, but there are different opinions among the EU member states. It has been very difficult to reach consensus, not on the Romanian side, but on the EU members' side. Now we have asked that the EU also express a very clear position."

Analysts say it is not uncommon for the EU to send warning letters to candidate countries when they do not fulfill the political criteria for membership. Analyst Heather Grabbe of the London-based Center for European Reform (CER) said such letters have been sent in the past to Slovak Prime Minister Vladimir Meciar. But Grabbe told RFE/RL that it is the first time that a candidate has come so close to having the EU consider the issue of suspending negotiations. "The EU has not got a common position on this [suspension issue] yet, and even the commission itself hasn't taken a clear line of saying that it is going to suspend negotiations [with Romania]," she said. "But it's true this is the first time that a candidate country has been so close to the commission having to look at the question of suspending negotiations. It's primarily because of action by the [European] Parliament."

Grabbe says that by mentioning the possibility -- however remote -- of a suspension of negotiations, the EU has sent a strong signal to all current and future EU hopefuls that they have to strictly observe the political criteria. Turkey, which is a candidate but has yet to be given a clear date to start admission talks, has had a difficult time fulfilling the political criteria.

"The EU has, in fact, shown itself in the past to be willing to enforce its political conditionality, and I think it will do so in future, definitely with Turkey," Grabbe said. "Turkey has to fulfill the political conditions before it can begin negotiations, and the EU is keeping a very close eye on that. So the commission will come up with a report in the autumn in which they will say whether or not they think Turkey has met the political conditions. But even if the country is said to have met the conditions and actually started negotiations, as Romania has done and as Turkey will do at some point, even after that, the conditions are not deemed to have been met forever."

Grabbe concluded that the European Commission does not appear to be trying to present Romania as a negative example to others. But the European Parliament has reiterated that it remains very keen that candidates not only must meet all the technical conditions, but also the political conditions.

Adrian Nastase: under pressure to control child traffiking 

By Ambrose Evans-Pritchard in Brussels 12:01AM GMT 04 Feb 2004

The European Commission has warned Romania to halt the export of children for adoption or face a bar on EU membership and the severance of aid funds.

The commission wrote to Adrian Nastase, the prime minister, warning that his government's conduct failed to meet the "political criteria" on human rights required for EU accession. Romania is hoping to join in 2007.

The unprecedented letter, signed by Gunther Verheugen, the enlargement commissioner, not only threatened to cut off aid but also referred to the need for a "recovery of funds" already spent unless Bucharest can account for its actions.

Officials say £42 million of aid is at risk.

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The dispute comes after Italian reports that Romania had sent 105 children to Italy on dubious pretexts, confirming suspicions in Brussels that the Nastase government is turning a blind eye to racketeering by adoption agencies and corrupt officials.

Romania imposed a moratorium on adoptions in 2001 at the request of Lady Nicholson, a Liberal-Democrat MEP and the European Parliament's "rapporteur" on Romania. She said organised crime was exploiting reports about the country's orphanages as a "cover" for a much wider child-abuse industry.

More than 30,000 children were shipped out for adoption over 10 years, generating hundreds of millions of pounds for agencies and middle men. Each child fetched £20,000 to £35,000.

Few were actually orphans and some were stolen babies. Last month it was disclosed that a maternity hospital at Ploiesti had been tricking mothers by pretending their premature babies died at birth.

The infants were in fact "fattened" in a pre-natal wing for six months before being exported. It is claimed that 23 babies were smuggled out by the hospital last year alone.

In other cases, vulnerable young girls were pressured into giving up their babies for as little as £300 cash.

Lady Nicholson said little had changed since the moratorium was imposed. "It is a well-oiled machine that seems to rest on a partnership between the adoption agencies and corrupt officials, from top to bottom of the administration. There are wonderful people making huge efforts to stop it but they are not winning.

"The courts appear to be corrupt. One judge rubber-stamped 92 cases in a single morning. There are no files. Children are just a number in a computer. The agencies get a court order and grab the child. It's kidnapping.

"Some are girls and boys approaching puberty. They are sent off against their will to an unknown future. I shudder to think of their fate. You see advertisements on the internet for pre-pubescent virgins with a $30,000 price tag."

Outraged Euro-MPs are demanding that Romania's request to join the EU be put on ice. A draft resolution by the European Parliament calls for "root-and-branch reform of the justice system" before renewing accession talks.

According to official figures, 1,000 Romanian children have been adopted abroad over the last two years but the real number could be much higher.

Mr Nastase said they were "pipeline cases" dating from commitments back to 2001, claiming that foreign parents were already living with the children in Romania.

But Mr Verheugen disputed the claim, noting that most were taken from foster homes or "other suitable care situations" in Romania.

An EU official said: "They were happily settled. Romania is a poor country and so these families don't have swimming pools in the yard but foster care is no worse than in any other country."

While most adoptive parents in the EU and America offer loving homes, the Commission said lack of tracking data made it impossible to know where children ended up.

"There is a very big risk that a number fall into the hands of paedophile networks. I didn't believe it for a long time but all the evidence points that way," said an official.

Romanian officials say they are caught in a tug-of-war between two camps. While one part of the EU demands an adoption ban, Italy, Spain, and France want laxer rules to meet their collapsing fertility rates.

Adrian Nastase: under pressure to control child traffiking By Ambrose Evans-Pritchard in Brussels 12:01AM GMT 04 Feb 2004

The European Commission has warned Romania to halt the export of children for adoption or face a bar on EU membership and the severance of aid funds.

The commission wrote to Adrian Nastase, the prime minister, warning that his government's conduct failed to meet the "political criteria" on human rights required for EU accession. Romania is hoping to join in 2007.

Naar School in Haïti

Februari 2004: De stichting biedt inmiddels aan heel veel kinderen onderwijs. Graag verwijs ik hiervoor naar haar eigen site.

Gert Hardeman

Oorspronkelijke tekst:

Elk kind heeft recht op voeding, kleding, onderdak en onderwijs. Dit recht wordt werkelijkheid voor de kinderen "van" de Stichting Naar School in Haïti. De stichting doet meer dan haar naam aangeeft, maar daarmee begint het wel: het volgen van onderwijs is het begin van het einde van armoede.